RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,131
(two simple things)
A long-enough life might
be good for some things. It's
all 'on balance,' I suppose;
dependent on what you wish
to value or call meaningful.
For myself, the huge pilings
of things mostly have just
amounted to massings of
questions and sought-for
explanations.
-
Two things come to mind,
and both have only now
been answered. On my
second-grade report card,
on the back, where there
was room for 'comments'
by the teacher, for the
parent - about deportment,
behavior, etc. - my teacher,
Mrs. Schur, had written
'Gary has a problem with
questions.' I, and my mother,
had no idea what that was
meant to signify; and I don't
actually recall my father as
in on this. Later on, after a
parent-teacher conference,
my mother said the teacher
had meant that I 'ask' too
many question, and dis-order
the class by that. That seemed
OK enough for me, as I figured
'what's school supposed to be
anyway?' So, it passed.
-
However, I've always had
two things that bugged me,
seeking answers. Well, I've
had hundreds, but these two
I never got answered. Until
yesterday, as I was reading.
Hear me out: In about 1924
a distant member of my family,
on my mother's side, was the
welterweight champion of the
world, or maybe even it was
'featherweight' (I'm working
from my own, bleary, memory
from when I was a kid about
1955, then. He was a great-uncle,
or my Grandmother's brother or
cousin - one of those - named
Jimmie or Mickie Ballerino. I
really forget. There were news
clippings and photos and things
displayed. Boxing was nothing
to me, and it was all boring to
hear. The New York fight circuit,
and probably all those crooked
clubs and bouts and the rest.
One day, at my grandmother's
place in Bayonne - some kind
of family gathering - this palooka
shows up! Big, fancy Wop suit,
wide, crazy red tie, by fancy
tie-clip and some kind of ring
on a finger. Big deal nobody.
He's smoking a big cigar. He
comes over to, plays up to me
a bit, and asks if I wanted to see
him blow cigar smoke out of his
ear. Ear? I said OK. And all these
years later, I still can see vividly
that smoke coming from an ear.
I was flabbergasted, and it's never
left me - but for years I've doubted
myself and the memory. Can this
foolishness have been real. Was
this turkey really putting me on?
Here's an answer, just found!
"Perforated eardrums were quite
common. The drum generally
heals up; and if a hole remains
in it, although one is somewhat
deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke
out of the ear in question, which is
a social accomplishment.' So, my
crazy memory is confirmed? One
other thing, this boxer guy had a
broad nose SO flat and battered
that it resembled something
Popeye and Olive Oyl could have
portrayed with Bluto and a frying
pan episode. besides which, his
'cauliflower' wars (I was told they
were called, were like twice fat
and life-size. I guess boxing has
its perils, even at lighter weight.
-
The other question that's always
bugged me for answers, and which
I again just had answered, was -
and I asked this of many - 'Is the
Earth's supply of water the same
amount of water since day one,
or always, or is water produced
or made more plentiful?' I could
never get any real answer, even
at Princeton, when I actually
asked it of someone in Guyot
Hall (Geology Dept. and ancient
fossils and dinosaurs, etc.).
Here's my answer now: "There
are 320 million cubic miles of
water on Earth, and that is all
we're ever going to get. The
system is closed: practically
speaking, nothing can be added
or subtracted. The water you
drink has been around doing
its job since the Earth was young.
By 3.8 billion years ago the
oceans had, (at least more or
less) achieved their present
volumes."
-
Well I'll be, what time hath wrought!
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